Putting on the Big Girl Pants

Cala, taken November 22, 2009

This summer I lost my heart dog. My once-in-a-lifetime dog. The dog who took me places I never thought I'd get to go. Viva was not young, but with a lot of relatives who lived to 14 and a dam who made it to 16, I was looking for more time. Hemangiosarcoma had a different idea, and she went from healthy to her last day in a span of two weeks.

Viva was an overwhelming presence in not just my life, but in our household, on the training field and at shows. She effortlessly and calmly dominated every room she entered. She was solid in her convictions and she was never wrong. Really. I'm not kidding. Not only was she always right, she was quite willing to tell you she was right, why you were wrong, and that you better straighten up, dammit. But she was also totally devoted to me. I never had a moment's doubt that Viva would lay her life down for me any time. Fortunately she was never called to do so, and instead I had to help her leave with grace and dignity. She even told me, in her blunt and uncompromising way, when it was time; not by asking but by demanding I let her go.

Then there was Cala, Viva's daughter. How, I often wondered, could this dog have come from Viva? Not only did Cala have no impulse control at all, she really didn't seem to care much about me, and nothing at all about anything I wanted. She never worked to please me, always herself. If doing something she wanted to do happened to coincide with what I wanted that was great, but if not, well so much for my wishes. From the moment of her birth it seems, Cala and I have done nothing but butt heads. I've often said that Cala is the dog whose primary role is to make me humble as a trainer and to teach me how to deal with tough dogs.

When Viva fell sick, I worried a lot about what would happen to Cala. Though sometimes it seemed that Cala and I were always at cross purposes, Cala really depended on her mother. She leaned on her, literally and figuratively. She often slept on top of a (grumbling and complaining but resigned) Viva. Viva was Cala's anchor. I knew Zipper would be okay; he would miss her but not in the same way. Cala I worried about quite a bit.

Cala and Zipper piled onto poor Viva, 2006

After Viva's death we all kind of reeled as a household. Cala was very subdued the first couple of months. We all grieved; I know I am still grieving. But then a very interesting thing happened. At age seven, Cala grew up and put on her big-girl pants. It was as if no longer having a mother meant she couldn't be the puppy any more. Without Viva to lean on, she had to stand her own four feet and learn to deal with life herself. She has stayed more subdued, but has added focus and maturity and a new willingness to work with me.

I've changed too. It was always hard to look beyond Viva, my perfect dog (not that she was perfect of course, but she was perfect for me). Without Viva to show her up so unfavorably, I've become much more patient with Cala, and more willing to work with her on her own terms, though they are different terms than Viva's. It seems maybe I've put on a pair of big girl pants too.

As a result, Cala and I have made huge progress. She's less hectic and more willing to listen. She's much calmer and easier to deal with around the house. I'm having a lot more fun with her too. I've started showing her a bit in agility again and though we haven't Qd and she's still her screaming self on the course, she's really trying to listen. In APDT Rally this past weekend she cleaned up, earning her Level 1 title with a 205, 209, 210 and then her first to L2 legs with two 210s and two first places. Here's a video of her second Level 2 run.



I will always mourn Viva. But I am also enjoying my new relationship with Cala. It seems it's never too late for old dogs (and old trainers) to learn something new.

Do a demo for us!

My van, fully loaded. There are two Dobermans and a Min Pin under there, and you can't even see the other tunnel...

Now that it's out of the van, it looks a bit more organized.

Ginger takes a break in a lull between crowds.

Jura goes after a thrown toy as a reward.

Vegas, Mr. Suave and Persuasive. Do you have a treat for me? I am starving you know.

"Come do a demo for us" they say. "It's for a great cause, and you'll get a lot of exposure."

And they're right of course. It is always for a great cause, and it is super exposure for our training center. And we enjoy doing them. So we usually do at least two or three a year, and yet we also turn down several others each year. Why?

Because holy beejeebus, it's a crapload of work.

Today, we had a demo at the MU Veterinary Teaching Hospital Open House. We were set for three performances of 10-15 minutes each at 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30. For this Open House, we spent several hours copying brochures and locating our other paperwork (enrollment forms, business cards, the form for our new summer camp for kids, etc). Then we went to the training center last night and pulled two sets of 6 weave poles, 8 metal 4' solid-base jumps, two 15' tunnels, 8 tunnel weights, poles and bars, 20 sets of ring gates, feet to go on the ring gates so they'd stand up, the CCSC sign (digging frantically in the closet to find the darn thing), one of our exercise balls, rally signs and stands, cones, and chairs. I also made sure we had sun screen, paperclips and clipboards. For the dogs I had treats and their training bags, but that stays pretty prepped.

Then this morning we had to load it all. Two other people had already loaded the gates, rally stuff, and paperwork. I arrived at our building before 8:00 a.m. and loaded the two tunnels, weights, four of the metal jumps, all of the jump bars and both sets of weave poles. All on top of three dogs. I found I couldn't fit the rest of the metal jumps in, so instead went and pulled four more jumps, our freestanding wing jumps.

Off to breakfast, then we arrived at the site at 9:30. After some confusion about where we actually were supposed to be, we now had to unload everything and set up our rings. We started setting ring gates only to find that one Bachelor's Degree (me) and one PhD (Ginger) can't count for snot. We needed 26 sets of ring gates for the size rings we wanted, not 20. But having learned the hard way that at demos you always gate everything, we made our rings smaller instead of leaving gates out. If you don't gate everything, people try to drag their dogs through tunnels and over jumps willy-nilly, willing or not. Since we don't like to see dogs traumatized for life by well-meaning but naive owners, we gate. Today we also had to deal with high winds, so we ended up using tracking stakes from Steve and Jamie's van to help hold things down.

So after almost another hour of setup, we were finally ready for our first demo. And that's always the fun part. Talking to people, especially kids, about a sport I love to do, one that is accessible to all dogs of all sizes, shapes, and types, is great. The crowds were wonderful, the kids asked funny and perceptive questions. We were a bit shorthanded this demo, with Andrea in Omaha and Kathy in Wichita. Steve and Jamie had a dog, and I worked all three of mine, even 11 1/2 year old Viva. Ginger worked both her adult Springers and the 3 month old puppy had a great time with the crowd. Liz showed up with Standard Schnauzer Vegas and he demonstrated the exercise ball. We talked and explained until my voice was pretty much gone.

Our dogs were, I have to say, amazing. They worked the rings and the crowds, allowed innumerable hands to pet them and lots of chirping children's voices over their heads. Viva, the old Dobe, is a pro at this stuff, but Zipper the Min Pin is still young and I was just so thrilled with his attitude and patience. Ditto the Springers, the Weim Faith who was pretty much always mobbed, and Vegas too.

Finally we were finished with demos, but not at all finished with our day. We had vet student help to break things down, but we still had to repack the cars, then haul it all back to the building, take it all out and put it back. Even though our last show was at 12:30, it was almost 2:30 before I and the dogs finally arrived home. Where they promptly crashed into sound sleeps, exhausted by their day.

We do love to do demos, but now perhaps people may understand why we just don't do that many...

When Aft goes Agley

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

--Robert Burns, To a Mouse, on Turning up Her Nest with the Plow

Yes, my Aft did indeed gang agley last Thursday, as I've already moaned about. Now, four days later, I'm walking, but slowly. I missed all three days of my agility trial last weekend.

The question is, how do you train when you can't move adequately? Tonight I did six poles with Zipper and he was beating me to the end, which is just wrong. But bless his heart he did move ahead of me and do them, good boy! I then tried some heeling with Cala. She's entered for the RAE for the first time, which means I'm supposed to be showing her in both Advanced and Excellent Rally on the same day.

Heeling was actually pretty comical. I was moving so slowly, she was anticipating that I was going to halt at any moment, so basically we had the boot-scooting boogie going on. "What? Am I sitting now? Okay, now?" But she was actually amazingly patient with me.

I've decided to borrow a cane again for Saturday. Since I'll be off leash, hopefully I'll be able to do the cane and move out a bit, but I'll need to practice with it so Cala can do her left-about turn and her right finishes without being bothered by it.

Being hurt sux.

New article on Total MinPin

I've added a new article on Total Min Pin on the Working Min Pin. Go check it out!

Today it's cold, again. Zip and Cala just came in from outside and he immediately jumped into his sun chair so he could warm up. The old gal, Viva, is not at all interested in stirring from the couch; I'll have to kick her out later to go potty. Otherwise she'll just try to hold it forever.

Crates and well trained dogs

Last night, on my way home from taking the dogs for a run, the thing happened that none of us want to happen. While driving down I-70 (the busiest interstate in the U.S.) my right rear tire blew. I managed to get off onto the shoulder then limped, very slowly, toward the next exit ramp.

None of us wants something like this to happen. But if it does, it sure is nice to have well-behaved, trained dogs who are used to crates. I called my friend Kathy, then I called Triple A. Kathy came and helped me offload dogs from my car to hers. If my dogs had not been crated, if they were not well-trained, the chances of them making it even from my car to hers would have been small. Traffic was roaring by at well over 70 mph mere feet away. But everyone was under control, and because they were crated we were able to move one at a time.

The dogs then went to the training building and put into their crates there, and they then waited, quietly, for me to get back to them after the car was fixed.

Good dogs!

Pete and Repeat

Weaves are still an issue with Zipper. I discovered that Saturday when I went to the building to train and he was missing poles. Again. For the eleventy-billionth time.

It reminds me that he's still a green dog and that weaves have always been slow to come. He isn't ready for me to be cavalier about weave training. But I've had excuses. This darn calf-muscle pull h has been slow to mend and the weather has been awful. I am not, will not, refuse to, train a 10# dog with no hair in an unheated building with temperatures ranging from 1 to 10 degrees F. Not going to happen.

Thank goodness the weather is letting up a bit this week. Not enough for me to really want to go tracking, but enough to get into the building a few times.

Goal? Me totally healed and Zipper 100% on weaves by our St. Louis trial the end of this month.

Meanwhile I ponder funds for the UKC trial. Upside? Probably easy titles. UAg2 for Zip, Rally for Cala. Downside? $$$. What to do...what to do.

Brrrr!

Temp is 18F and falling. Our windchill tomorrow is supposed to be -10 to -25. Holy cow that's cold. So no walks, no training at the building (which is unheated). I have the thermostat here at the house turned down to 60 to try to save my gas bill. All the dogs are in coats.

As for me, I'm looking over April trials and trying to decide what to enter. Zip's already entered in a late Feb trial and there's nothing in March, but April is jammed! And there are two trials at Purina Farms this spring, when there haven't been any outdoor trials there for the past couple of years. My tent broke. Do I dare a trial in April outdoors? With a Min Pin? Hmmmm.

And what have I been doing since August 2007?

Whoa. Lots. Zipper is now UAg1 Ch Regatta It's About Time, OA, OAJ, RS-O, JS-O. Right now he's really the only dog I'm training. I need to brush Cala-the-dobe up on heeling, etc. to do some Rally this spring, but the big focus is on Zip.

Things I'm working on right now are tracking, still brushing up on weaves.